The ultimate luxury wristwatches (pictures)

Last week, we dazzled you (and judging from reader comments, disgusted you in some cases) with a roundup of the most opulent smartphones and tablets we've seen.

This week, we continue our series on ultimate luxury entertainment with a small sampling of the glitziest wristwatches (large sums of) money can buy. Earlier this year, Swiss watchmaker RJ-Romain Jerome announced a limited run of offbeat titanium timepieces called Spacecraft, which look like '70s sci-fi props. The minutes are indicated by a black rotating disc on the face, while the hours are displayed by a spring-driven carriage and red cursor on the side. The Spacecraft has 54 jewels. Inside the PVD-coated titanium case is a complex self-winding movement.

How much will this bit of retro-geek chic cost you? A mere $33,400.

If driving an Aston Martin DBS doesn't make you feel Bondian enough, perhaps an AMVOX2 DBS Transponder watch will. The timepiece from Aston Martin and luxury-watch maker Jaeger-LeCoultre lets wannabe 007s lock and unlock their DBS coupe by pressing the open and close positions respectively on the watch's glass.

Aston Martin says the transponder module adds only a few grams to the weight of the watch and that the electronics inside have been shrunk to half the size of the same system in the DBS key. And the watch should add only about $41,000 to the DBS' $262,000 suggested retail price.

Collectors with very deep pockets will love Louis Moinet's Meteoris Solar System, which is not only a mechanical planetarium representing the solar system but also an extraordinary showcase for four dazzling timepieces including the Tourbillon Asteroid, seen here.

The Tourbillon Asteroid's dial encompasses a handcrafted piece of the Itqiy meteorite, which fell in Western Sahara in 1990. In addition to 56 diamonds, it features an 18-karat white-gold case, visible main spring, and tourbillon escapement. You can pick it up with the entire Meteoris collection for a cool $4.9 million.

Last year, boutique brand HYT launched the prizewinning H1, the first mechanical watch to use liquid to indicate the time. Its successor is the H2, pictured here, which also exposes its innards for all to see. The unusual bellows, arranged in a V shape, push a liquid through an external ring to indicate the hour; a minute hand jumps from position to position, and there's also a fluid temperature gauge.

The H2 is limited to 50 pieces, each around 90,000 Swiss francs ($95,150).